The Call of St. Matthew (Matthew 9:9-26)
Matthew answers Jesus' call in an amazing way.  That night, Jesus comes and has dinner at Matthew's house.  Many amazing things happen that night!

    As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him.
    While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat with Jesus and his disciples.
    The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"
    He heard this and said, "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. Go and learn the meaning of the words, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."
    Then the disciples of John approached him and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast (much), but your disciples do not fast?"
    Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
    While he was saying these things to them, an official came forward, knelt down before him, and said, "My daughter has just died. But come, lay your hand on her, and she will live."
    Jesus rose and followed him, and so did his disciples.
    A woman suffering hemorrhages for twelve years came up behind him and touched the tassel on his cloak.
    She said to herself, "If only I can touch his cloak, I shall be cured."
    Jesus turned around and saw her, and said, "Courage, daughter! Your faith has saved you." And from that hour the woman was cured.
    When Jesus arrived at the official's house and saw the flute players and the crowd who were making a commotion, he said, "Go away! The girl is not dead but sleeping." And they ridiculed him.
    When the crowd was put out, he came and took her by the hand, and the little girl arose.
    And news of this spread throughout all that land.

The Angel appears to St. Joseph (Matthew 1:18-25)
Did you ever wonder why an angel is the symbol of St. Matthew?  It's because he begins the story of Jesus' life with the dream of Joseph.

    Now this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the holy Spirit.
    Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly.
    Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.
    She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."
    All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet:
    "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means "God is with us."
    When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.
    He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.

The Beginning of Mark's Gospel
Notice how short Mark's sentences are and how much happens in a short time!  There's no account of Jesus' birth here.  Mark starts the story with Jesus' baptism.

    The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Son of God).
    As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: "Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way.
    A voice of one crying out in the desert: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.'"
    John (the) Baptist appeared in the desert proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
    People of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins.
    John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He fed on locusts and wild honey.
    And this is what he proclaimed: "One mightier than I is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop and loosen the thongs of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit."
    It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
    On coming up out of the water he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit, like a dove, descending upon him.
    And a voice came from the heavens, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased."

The Angel Gabriel Appears to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:26-38)
Luke loved Jesus' mother very much.  He is the only evangelist to tell the story of the angel Gabriel's appearance to Mary.

    In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
    And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
    But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
    Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
    Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
    He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
    But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"
    And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
    And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."
    Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

The Story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37)
In Luke's Gospel, Jesus tells this story when someone asks him, "Who is my neighbor?"

    Jesus replied, "A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead.
    A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
    Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side.
    But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight.
    He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him.
    The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, 'Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.'
    Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers' victim?"
    He answered, "The one who treated him with mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

Jesus Heals in Luke's Gospel (Luke 13:10-17)
According to tradition, Luke was a physician.  There are many stories in Luke's gospel of Jesus tender compassion towards sick people.

    He was teaching in a synagogue on the sabbath.
    And a woman was there who for eighteen years had been crippled by a spirit; she was bent over, completely incapable of standing erect.
    When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, "Woman, you are set free of your infirmity."
    He laid his hands on her, and she at once stood up straight and glorified God.
    But the leader of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus had cured on the sabbath, said to the crowd in reply, "There are six days when work should be done. Come on those days to be cured, not on the sabbath day."
    The Lord said to him in reply, "Hypocrites! Does not each one of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his ass from the manger and lead it out for watering?
    This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for eighteen years now, ought she not to have been set free on the sabbath day from this bondage?"
    When he said this, all his adversaries were humiliated; and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the splendid deeds done by him.

The Beginning of John's Gospel
John is a very different sort of evangelist.  Mark began with Jesus' baptism.  But John begins at the very beginning.  He begins at the beginning of the world!  John is the poet of evangelists.

    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
    He was in the beginning with God.
    All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
    A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
    He was not the light, but came to testify to the light.
    The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
    He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him.
    He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him.
    But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God,
    to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God.
    And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.

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